Twitter app gets push notification for automated recommendations

Twitter has just announced the rollout of a new feature that will excite avid and hardcore Twitter users but may also annoy a few. Starting today, the Twitter app for Android and iOS will be sending push notifications for recommendations based on the hottest stuff from your Twitter friends’ own timelines.

Aside from the normal microblogging uses, Twitter has also become the hotspot for trending topics and celebrity personas. But due to the whirlwind and fast-paced nature of the medium, it is quite easy to miss out on the latest and greatest, which might make for some awkward situations when everyone except you already knows. This is one scenario that Twitter wants to prevent with its new recommendation push notification feature.

The way the system works in theory is quite simple. Personalized recommendations are made based on your own friends’ Twitter activities. If the same tweet has been retweeted or marked as favorite by multiple people in your network, Twitter will make a recommendation of that tweet and push it to your mobile app. The same goes for when the same Twitter account is followed by your friends. This would, at least, ensure that you’re only receiving recommendations for the things that are relevant to your social circles.

Twitter has been refining the algorithms that create the recommendations, but it will definitely be far from perfect. Fortunately, those who choose to opt out of the feature can simply turn off Recommendations from the Twitter app’s notification settings.